The Moral of the Story

The means of conveying a moral specific theme in a fictional story is termed Moral Fiction. this designation may seem self-explanatory since you most likely grew up with stories that contained a moral lesson. So many classic children’s stories were infused with value based story lines it may seem strange to think that is not the primary purpose of storytelling.

Today, however, Moral Fiction is a genre unto itself. somewhere in an undefined part of literary history, new genres of fiction began to emerge with little claim to a moral objective. Today it’s clear there is a need for the term Moral Fiction.

With this genre, the story is essentially a creative vehicle whereby a moral lesson can be conveyed to a mass audience. That’s not to indicate that Moral Fiction is preachy because it doesn’t have to be, in fact, I would suggest it shouldn’t be.

Writers need to be careful to remember the story has an ebb and flo that does not respond well to the use of a bully pulpit. If your reader views the story as a tool to bludgeon them with a moral imperative they will stay away from your work – in droves.

Julie Andrews delivers a song for the movie, Marry Poppins that is very appropriate when choosing this type of fiction, a spoon full of sugar helps the medicine go down. too often readers view bad moral fiction as if they were being force-fed vinegar.

Moral fiction is very effective when the author uses the moral lesson as a single thread in a very large tapestry. The trouble often arises when the author views the moral lesson as the tapestry and the story as the thread. In one case it’s a compliment to the storyline and in the other it is viewed as moral superiority.

As a writer you seek ways to connect with your reader. In Moral Fiction the goal is to allow the story to be as engaging as possible so the reader doesn’t immediately disengage from the storyline because they weren’t anticipating a sermon.

For writers who come at their work from a faith perspective it is expected that at least a good portion of the work produced will have a moral theme. Moral Fiction provides an effective vehicle to convey a Christian worldview in the much-loved genre of fiction.